[Danr55]

Patrickt, I don't mean to be contrary, but I have a friend who makes a very good living flying around and surveying different labs for different functions. Among them being spectrographic analysis and chemical analysis. He audits both function and procedural processes for existance of procedures, compliance to standards, and record keeping among other things. I know this man because I work for a major aerospace corporation and they would not (read that as could not by contract) do business with these labs if they were not certified. I can't speak to the specific groups that vettstr is familiar with, but to say that certification is nothing more than paying a fee is a bit simplistic.